Tuesday, April 1, 2014

RasPI + RGB LED = Color of Twitter

This project uses a Raspberry PI to scan all posted Tweets in real time for the mention of a color. When a color is Tweeted the Red, Green, and/or Blue segments of a RGB LED are turned on to display the Tweeted color. Video demo below:

-----
The project is pretty cool and simple to duplicate. You should be able to just copy/past my Python script below into your favorite RasPI editor and go from there.

Note that the code expects the RGB LED to be connected to I/O Pins 11 (Red), 15 (Green) and 13 (Blue). Also, be sure to add a current limiting resistor to each of the three I/O pins; not the RGB LED ground pin. My RGB LED was spec'd for 330 Ohm resistors. This picture should help identify Pins 11, 15, and 13:

-----
You will also need to establish your own Twitter API Token. Don't worry; it's easy if you already have a Twitter account. To get them go to https://dev.twitter.com/. Enter these API Token values where the X's are in the source code below.
-----
# Program to search Twitter to control a RGB LED
# by WhiskeyTangoHotel.Com with special thanks to Sparkfun and twython
# Tracks a tally count after each find
# APRIL 2014